Reading the Room: How the Core 16 Best of Breed Premier Index’s Gainers-to-Losers Indicator Helps Spot Market Momentum Shifts

In an investing world full of noise, opinions, and headlines, it’s tempting to rely on gut instinct or “expert” forecasts to decide when to dial risk up or down.

But for advisors managing client portfolios, guesswork just doesn’t cut it—especially in turbulent markets. That’s where the Core 16 Best of Breed Premier Index and the Core16 Best of Breed Premier Index ETF (BOBP) that seeks to track it, offers something refreshingly rational: a signal-based strategy with built-in responsiveness to market momentum shifts.

At the heart of this approach? The Gainers-to-Losers Indicator—a proprietary tool designed to track broad sentiment across the index universe and shift the ETF’s positioning accordingly.

What Is the Gainers-to-Losers Indicator?

In plain terms, the Indicator looks at the 50 large-cap stocks currently in the Index and asks one question: Are more of them gaining or losing over the past 12 months?

Each trading day, the index calculates how many of its constituents have delivered positive returns over the trailing 12 months (the “Gainers”) and how many are negative (“Losers”). This ratio becomes a daily pulse check on the broader market mood—offering a data-backed perspective on whether bullish or bearish sentiment is taking the lead.

How It Works: Signals and Shifts

The Indicator operates within clearly defined rules:

• Buy Signal (Normal Conditions):
  If the percentage of Gainers stays above a predefined threshold, BOBP remains fully invested—90% in its 50 selected securities and 10% in a cash-equivalent investments. This represents the fund’s default, growth-oriented positioning.
• Sell Signal (Market Stress):
  If the Gainers drop below that threshold—suggesting stress, dislocation, or extreme risk-off behavior—the Indicator flips to a “Sell” signal.
  On the next scheduled rebalance (every two weeks), BOBP shifts defensively, allocating 20% to cash and reducing equity exposure accordingly. This risk-aware posture stays in place until the Indicator sees a reversion back to “normal,” at which point equity exposure is gradually restored.

Why It Matters to Advisors

Let’s face it—markets don’t always send calendar invites before they turn volatile. For advisors, this means needing strategies that may adapt in real time without the burden of constant monitoring or emotional decision-making.

The Core 16 Best of Breed Premier Index's Gainers-to-Losers Indicator is not an active trading tool or a discretionary hedge. Instead, it’s a potential systematic process that quietly adjusts exposure when the data says the market is under pressure. Importantly, there are no human overrides. The process is rules-based, transparent, and consistent—exactly what advisors may need when managing long-term allocations with short-term volatility.

A Sharper Way to “Read the Room”

Whether you're preparing for the next downturn or just trying to keep client portfolios aligned with shifting tides, the index’s Gainers-to-Losers Indicator may offer a balance: responsive yet rules-driven. It's like having a market mood ring built into your ETF—one that speaks in signals, not speculation.

For advisors looking to add large-cap exposure with a layer of built-in discipline, BOBP isn’t just watching the market—it’s reading the room. And when sentiment shifts, it aims to be one step ahead.

Explore the full playbook and learn more about BOBP here.